Tag: multigenerational

Have you thought about how many songs your choir sings that feature a solo that “drives” the song you are singing? I don’t mean a simple verse solo or a small section in the song, but a full-song solo where the choir essentially takes a “back-up” choir role. If you are in my choir, you’ll sing plenty of these types of tunes. There are a few reasons this is the case in my choir and possibly yours as well:

Some of the most popular songs for choirs today have solos that drive the song. I’m not in a popularity contest, but there are some great church choral songs (new and not so new) that have solos in them. I want my choir to learn lots of great things that have great texts and are solid musically.

I can because I have lots of soloists. Having lots of great soloists makes it easy to present these types of songs, especially when you have some that really communicate the message in a special way…like Spencer in the feature photo here.

Sometimes they are easier or faster to learn because the soloist has the bulk of the song. Sometimes the hardest part of learning a choral song are verses because of the variances of texts and rhythmic structures that can be tricky. If the choir is learning choruses only, which often repeat, the process of learning the song is expedited.

While we enjoy the flexibility to do lots of solo-driven choral literature, I am often conflicted about over-using these types of songs because of my commitment to value the contributions of all the singers in my choir. It’s a constant battle; one I’ve been contending with for years. When I researched intergenerational choirs in Georgia in 2014, I asked the leaders of those choirs how much of their own choral literature was solo driven. Here are some results:

Over half of them indicated that they only used solo-driven choral literature in about 20 percent of their anthems.

About another 25 percent of those interviewed said they used solo-driven literature up to 40 percent of the time.

Smaller church choirs sang fewer solo-driven anthems than the largest church choirs.

A couple of observations from this data…

Solo-driven literature does not “generally” dominate the choral offerings of churches that are intergenerational.

Small church choirs probably have fewer soloists than the largest church choirs. Therefore, it’s plausible that more soloists could possibly equated with more opportunities to sing solo-driven literature.

There were no indications that age of leader or choir members had any bearing on the percentage of solo-driven anthems used.

One area that seemed to have a bearing on how much solo-driven choral literature was sung was the publishers frequently used. Those leaders who frequently purchased from more traditional publishers rarely used solo-driven anthems. Conversely, those who used only one or two publishers from the evangelical side reported much higher use of solo-driven anthems. My personal observations (a quick count at any current choral pack from any publisher will reveal) Prism, Word, and Brentwood-Benson publish more solo-driven literature than other evangelical publishers (Lifeway, Lillenas, Praisegathering). I love, and use music from, each of these publishers, so do not think I am speaking negatively about any one publisher. I am simply commenting on what I see when I open their choral club packets/boxes.

The long and short of it? Broaden the number of publishers you listen to as you search for choral music for your church choir so you may find all types of songs—especially if you find yourself leaning towards solo-driven literature all the time. This it is often hard to achieve, but necessary for balance if your goal is to create an atmosphere where all members of the choir feel valued and important.

Personally, I am guilty of relying on solo-driven literature at least 40 percent of the time, sometimes more. We sing tunes from every one of the above publishers and I love the variety of music types that can be found, but often I find some of the best tunes I can find (in my opinion) are solo-driven. But, since I firmly believe that valuing all in my music ministry is important, I know I must be careful to look for balance, which includes purposely looking for choir only literature that fits our context.

As a side note: thankfully, some solo-driven songs can be adapted to include more of the choir. For instance, verses that a solo would normally sing could be sung by the women or the men. I’ve done that on several songs and it has worked very well.

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Today would’ve been my mother’s 69th birthday. It’s been just over 5 years since she passed away from a heart attack among some of her closest friends at a local restaurant in my hometown. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss her. Special days, like today, are even tougher. My mom’s birthday is very close to Mother’s Day. A double whammy! My birthday is tomorrow, the day after my mom’s birthday. A triple whammy! I miss celebrating our birthday’s together.

In full disclosure, I’ll admit that I was not always glad our birthdays were a day apart. What child doesn’t get excited about his birthday days before the actual day? Add a cool birthday party in there, and the celebration can go on for weeks! BUT, I was reminded (often) that my mom’s birthday was first and I needed to remember to celebrate her birthday without constantly talking about MY birthday. Point taken, but as a child it was hard nonetheless. My mom always made my birthday special, often using her own birthday preparing for my birthday. So today, I will not forget celebrate her birthday even though she is worshiping at the feet of Jesus today. Happy birthday, mama!

To celebrate her today, I wanted to write a post about my journey these last few years. As I thought about it, I remembered that three years ago I wrote a “note” about Mother’s Day and the sadness I felt the first few years without my mom to “celebrate.” The Lord spoke to me clearly that He has provided surrogate mothers to fill the void in my life. I knew I needed to share this note again because there are many of us without earthly mothers that have special mother-figures God has used to encourage and love. I truly believe in each generation pouring wisdom and influence into another—a symbiotic relationship, if you will. These women have certainly encouraged and invested in me and I hope I have done likewise.

Here’s the note from May 2015:

I’ve been thinking a lot about Mother’s Day coming up next weekend. Many of you know I lost my Mom tragically two years ago. The anniversary of her death was just a few weeks ago and it was hard; it always is. While next weekend we will celebrate Mother’s Day, it also would have been her birthday next Saturday. To say I miss her is just inadequate.

You know, she was probably the biggest influence on my decision to enter vocational ministry. She would faithfully sit and listen to me practice piano scales, etudes, sonatas or some vocal solo because I preferred having an audience😆. I’ll never forgot the times we’d be riding in the car and we’d be singing and she’d look over at me and say, “Will, I hope you know your talents are a gift from God. I pray you always use them for His glory.” My mom was my biggest fan and encourager.

In the midst of several pity parties over lost time with her, I have felt the Holy Spirit remind me that He has put strategic “mothers” in my life; a few just in the last few years. I think of three immediately:

First, if you are a part of our fellowship at Ivy Creek Baptist, you know Wylene. Wylene is our office admin. and a mother to all of her pastors (other sons as she calls us). She, too, has known the loss of a loved one fairly recently. She has the biggest heart and she loves just doing big and little things beyond her job description to demonstrate that love. Even though I haven’t know her long, you wouldn’t know it. Thank you, Wylene for loving me and taking care of me, even when I’m stubborn!

Second, Susan Rihner came into my life the summer after my mom died. I immediately liked her. She is fun, loyal, and has the most gregarious laugh, much like my mom did. She never hesitates to tell me how she feels, but tempers it with love. Sometimes I have to catch my breath when I’m with her, because she’ll say or do something exactly like mom. Susan, thank you for reminding me how full of life my mom was and how she told me what she thought, even when I didn’t want to hear it.

Third, how could I forget my precious mother in law, Margaret? I hit the mother load with her. In the twenty years I’ve know her, she has loved me like one of her own from day one. She, too, has had her share of heartache recently, but she remains a rock–unwavering in her faith and nurturing ways. Thank you, Margaret, for loving me as your own all these years.

Doubtless, some of you all are without biological mothers on this earth. It stinks; I get that. However, let the Spirit speak to you and reveal those precious ladies in your life that God puts there to fill that void and thank them royally this coming Mother’s Day.

I am blessed to have many, many “moms.” I appreciate all they have done for me. I want to challenge those reading to consider those who have invested in your own life. Have you thanked them? Likewise, if you are in a place of leadership, what are YOU doing to pour into the next generation?

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Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!

It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.

It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.

As one of the Psalms of Ascent written by David, Psalm 133 paints a vivid picture of the importance of unity among believers—that of liquids “running” and “descending.” David uses the liquids oil and dew because of their significance to the Jewish culture.

First, David uses the simile “like the precious oil on the head” to describe the importance of unity. The oil described here is a fragrant, refreshing oil used to consecrate a priest…it was HOLY and for those set apart. The priestly intent is clear because the Psalm refers to Aaron, part of Israel’s priestly tribe. “Moses ordained Aaron to the priesthood by anointing his head with oil,” (Leviticus 8:12).

Second, David uses the image of the dew of Hermon to describe the importance of unity. Mount Hermon is the north of Jerusalem (i.e. Mount Zion). Mount Hermon rises above the upper Jordan Valley. The melting snow, or dew, flowed down into the valley and fed the Jordan River all the way to Jericho. In arid land where the rain is scarce and the rivers dry up, the land and the people depend on water that “flows down.” It is the scarcity of water in the dry lands, which makes Mount Hermon’s dew so valuable. Imagine great thirst and this is analogous to the church in disunity, without clear vision and purpose. Water is essential to life. Perhaps you’ve been dehydrated before. Your body literally starts shutting down, trying to use whatever fluids it can find to keep your essential organs going. In this passage David describes how unity is the opposite of dehydration…it is an essential ingredient to making making not only our physical bodies function properly, but also the body of Christ.

We need to be reminded often of the importance of unity in our churches. Scriptures regarding unity abound because frankly, the human tendency is to “do it my own way.” For instance, Philippians 2 reminds us that we are to consider the needs of others over our own, being like-minded and of one accord. That’s the key, friends! If we will live in mutual submission, guided by biblical truth, we will live in unity. Yet how many of us have stories of how disunity has caused great strife in our churches? The stories of worship wars, as well as a whole host of other divisive ways the enemy uses to “dehydrate” the body of Christ, are far too commonplace today.

A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking with a lady about how to be more intentionally intergenerational in her church. She wanted some advice on how her church could be more unified in this philosophy, really. She told me of several long-time members who were upset with the new music being sung in their church. She recounted that recently the church had called a new worship leader who, in her opinion and apparently a large component of the membership, felt was doing his best to sing lots of different types of music intending to help bring the generations together. She described this small group as unwilling to show up to meetings to discuss the vision and direction of the church. Apparently, this small group has been content to fume. She asked me what I would do. I mentioned a couple of things I think are necessary to resolve conflict. I could’ve mentioned more, but here’s what I said then:

Affirm the direction of music with your worship pastor. He is new and needs your support and help understanding the church culture and the heart language of the people. As long as the music chosen is biblically strong, it is useful for corporate worship.

Those in leadership should meet with the lead pastor and worship pastor to make clear that the leadership of the church backs the direction of worship ministry. If not, there will never be unity. That’s probably the problem. If so, the direction should be clearly articulated before anything else happens. If it has been clearly stated…go to number 3.

Since the group won’t come to a meeting designed to share the vision, go to them…but don’t go alone. Bring a few people that can articulate the vision and explain how the changes will continue to be biblically faithful to the idea of “singing a new song.” In that meeting be SURE to tell them how much you value them and listen to their concerns.

Remember: some people are just NOT going to be satisfied until they get their way. Nothing you say is going to change that. But your actions from that point forward must reflect the vision you’ve cast. By the way, don’t talk poorly about these folks with others. That’s gossip, which is sin.

PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! Only God can soften hearts. He desires unity. We can do our best to initiate ways to facilitate unity, but it is GOD who brings about unity as we humble ourselves and seek His face.

Once we are walking in unity, we will walk in the Spirit. If we don’t, our churches will be contentious. Since we are imperfect people, evil and selfishness are sure to intrude. We must guard our hearts and stand firm on biblical truth to preserve and protect our unity. Unity is necessary, not only for us in the church, but it reflects who we are to the world. The image and witness of any church should be unified and clear. Remember the image of the anointing oil? As image bearers of Christ, we are to be holy and set apart. How can we do that if we live in disunity? Our selfishness and personal agendas do nothing to reflect Christ of His character. In fact when the mission of the church is tainted by selfishness and pride, God’s glory is squelched. And friends, last time I checked, the bride of a Christ must reflect and magnify the glory of Christ by living in unity with biblical purpose.

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Deanna and I spent the last several days in San Antonio for the annual meeting of the Baptist Church Music Conference. We went early because I was on the Executive Council as Local Church Representative from the East for the past few years. Being able to go early allowed us some time to enjoy some of the rich history (and fun) of San Antonio. We had a blast…and the conference was great too!

More than anything the conference sessions and concerts do to inspire and train me as a leader, I leave full from the conversations of colleagues at the conference. This year in particular was a special time of relationship building time; I am forever grateful for these friends in my life. I would also say that our morning corporate worship times, led by Kirk Kirkland and Ray Jones, were incredibly powerful and refreshing. I am thankful to God for reminding me of the importance of the ministry to which He has called me.

The sessions I led on intergenerational worship in the local church went very well and were well attended. People are definitely interested in this topic. My first thought after I finished my sessions was, “well, it’s easy to teach people content they already believe.” I knew the general concepts wouldn’t be far off from their own philosophy of worship. However, it wasn’t until Tuesday did I realize the profound impact that intergenerational philosophy is having on many churches/leadership (at least at our conference). As the folks from the local church division met together, we started the conversation with celebrating GOOD things happening in our churches. I was truly overwhelmed with thankfulness as I heard several of my colleagues share of their church’s journey from separate types of services to a unified worship expression. Thankfully, the leadership of these churches realize that music alone cannot grow a church and separating services with the primary intention to grow based on music choices is not achieving the desired result. In fact not a single one there could testify that having/having had separate types of services with this primary goal in mind is working to grow their church. May I just say it thrilled my heart to hear this. And the best part? Most who’ve been through this journey of unification are seeing more unification and increased attendance. I think the key is, and will be, teaching and inspiring the leadership to move towards unification, and if music is a key component…realize that diversity of musical styles doesn’t guarantee success if the diversity of music is not inline with the church culture and context. The better answer is in finding ways to interrelate the generations together in worship. In worship leadership my belief is that having worship teams that involve more is an important key component.

Oh, there is much more to be said. I’d like to hear from more of my colleagues who have had “success” moving from a multi-service model back to a single model (mirrored in content and style). I think there might be some similarities worth noting. I’m certain there will be many differences, because every church is different, but some things worth noting could rise to the top. If you are reading this and you’ve been through this scenario, I’d love to hear from you.

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This past weekend, some of our music and worship team from Ivy Creek led the music for the large group corporate worship times at the Georgia Baptist Women’s Ministry Spring Event at Stone Mountain. We had a blast meeting new folks and getting to connect with women of ALL ages from all over the state. The women were very encouraging about the musical offerings we presented and the variety of congregational songs we chose to lead, but do you know what the number one comment of encouragement was? “Thank you for not having the music SO loud that we didn’t get a headache.” OR “we could hear each other sing and yet the music was still energetic and supportive.” Don’t think that it was just older women either…no, it was folks from all ages.

Now, I’d heard these volume comments before (some good and some not so good), but they made a deeper impression this weekend because I’m constantly looking for ways to alleviate distractions in worship so the Father is highlighted and not what I am doing. Decibel levels matter, my friends. Prolonged, heavy vibrations in the ear drums can cause hearing damage. So, today I submit that not only are our musical choices important to connect generations together in worship, but the volume of that music is important too.

Any concert or church that hands out ear plugs (and there are MANY) before the music starts says to me, “I’m not concerned with your aural health enough to lower the volume to a healthy decibel level. Accept this small token to alleviate the painful noise because I seemingly care about you. But, those younger folks here, perhaps your sons and daughters that came in with you, they can tolerate the higher decibel levels (even if it damages their hearing long term).” Really??? But I digress. I do believe understanding some possible reasons WHY decibel levels have gotten out of control may help us understand why it’s important to be cognizant when considering volume levels in the intergenerational church.

SOME REASONS VOLUME HAS GOTTEN LOUDER

The advent of rock music (and specifically its live performance) is predicated on the feeling (vibration) the music brings to the listener/enjoyer (music coursing through your veins—literally)

With the advent of car radios (especially as stereo and bass technology has risen) one can be literally “enveloped” with sound

Churches have tried to mimic the feeling of a rock concert to increase the emotional and physical experience

A FEW ARGUMENTS FOR LOUD VOLUME

The enveloping of sound is a perfect way for non-singers to feel “safe” to sing uninhibited

We can feel and hear the energy of the music

Non-Christians are more comfortable hearing/and seeing music like what they experience at concerts/radio, etc.

Not having music that engulfs us makes the music sound anemic

In these arguments, and there are plenty of others, there’s not one that I can tell that could not be achieved with a reasonable decibel level. Perhaps not at the same degree though. Certainly it is more challenging to “feel” the bass when it’s not thumping.

SOME REASONS TO FIND A REASONABLE DECIBEL LEVEL IN WORSHIP SERVICES

Music that is so loud and piercing limits creativity to some degree. Dynamics, vocal harmonies and the like, are harder to distinguish and achieve. I’ve heard “softs” that still had high decibel levels

If you are going to have multiple generations in your services, multiple studies have shown that something physiological happens the older we get…the ear inside our ears gets stiffer as one ages causing our tolerance to certain decibel levels to decrease

We need to hear each other as we sing together because of the biblical command to admonish and teach one another through singing songs of worship (Ephesians 5:19). Pretty hard to do that if you can barely hear the person next to you. Where’s the community in that?

Loud decibel levels can distort text or make articulation incomprehensible. Pretty sure text is what sets worship apart from any other musical experience.

Oversinging may cause vocal damage

Loud decibel levels over extended time may cause hearing loss

To be clear, I’m not targeting modern worship music or bands that play a certain type of music. I love all types of music! I am specifically targeting the decibel level of ANY type of worship service. I’ve heard organs that have literally moved me physically with the vibrations and caused me to hold my ears.

I submit you: Extremes in volume (decibel level) may be polarizing relationally in the intergenerational church. Finding the balance is key in your own situation. Sometimes sitting in certain places in a worship center can yield a different sound. I know there are places in our worship center that are louder than others. I encourage folks who mention they can hear too much sound/cannot hear well to move around until they find what works for them.

Even as we consider this issue, there will be people in our sphere of influence that will never be pleased with volume levels because their preferences are so extreme. That’s okay; we in intergenerational churches are used to having to remind our folks that we are guided by the philosophy that we are better together, guided by the Word and the Holy Spirit, and always looking to find practical ways (volume included) to achieve the best balance for our church culture and context.

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One of the things that surprises me time and time again is the “one size fits all” approach held by churches, educational systems, and other such types of organizations. What works for some doesn’t always work for others. However, often trying to emulate the successes of others seems to be the norm. Recently, I had a conversation with someone whose church is trying to reach younger families in their community. This is a noble goal. However, this church leadership(from the description given to me by the person with whom I was talking) decided that adding a “modern” service would do the trick. Familiar story, right? OR, another familiar theme is “let’s change things up because I think things are getting stale.” Again, not a bad idea if there is purpose behind it, rather than simply changing things up so people don’t get bored. This mentality is rampant in the entertainment industry…push the envelope, tweak this and that so people aren’t bored and you (as ministry leadership) look like you are “doing” something productive for the Kingdom. Baloney!

Pragmatism is the nuts and bolts, but Philosophy should be the wrench. Rather than trying to make a bunch of changes in one’s church based on the successes of others, it is infinitely more important to capitalize on the strengths and weaknesses of YOUR church. Use all generations in your church. Don’t be afraid to use varied types of music. Be authentic; be real. But let the philosophy of “we’re better together…we value ALL in our faith family” resound! Remember intergenerational ministry/worship is not something you DO, it’s something you ARE. It’s a guiding principle…

I’m in the process of getting ready to teach two similar seminars in the next couple of weeks on intergenerational worship. The first is this weekend for the annual Georgia Baptist Women’s Event at Stone Mountain. Some of our music team and I will be leading in musical worship and I will teaching a class on music in the intergenerational church. The following weekend, I’m heading to the Baptist Church Music Conference in San Antonio where I’m also teaching on intergenerational worship. Last night I was talking with one of my 14 year old sons about what I was doing the next few weeks. He pointed out that my audiences will be vastly different. He laughed that I’ll be teaching a bunch of women this weekend and mostly men the following weekend. It is a fair assessment. We also talked about how important the women’s conference is (mostly laypeople-perhaps choir members in churches throughout the state) because these women are leaders in their church—they are the participants. The next weekend, I will be speaking to colleagues—to leaders in music ministry. I HOPE that the conversations from this coming weekend will help continue shape what I bring to our leaders. Granted, most of the leaders I will speak with next weekend believe in the intergenerational philosophy, so I hope to bring some ideas of how those leaders can strengthen their approach (philosophy) to reaching our next generations, as well as keeping all generations active and present in ministry. Both great opportunities, but I must alter my approach based on the culture of the situation. We church leaders should do the same with our churches…consider the context.

How different would our churches be that would truly embrace the multi-generational atmosphere of their churches by finding ways to capitalize on the strengths of all? How different would our churches be that didn’t constantly look to music as the MAIN tool for reaching the de-churched and un-churched? Because seriously, how much as contemporary worship music evolved in the last 30 years? Musically? not much. Textually? There have been some great strides in this area. But, in all? Not so much. Those churches who’ve found their niche (think cowboy church or mariachi church in certain locales) are the ones embracing who they are. We’d be much better off to focus on building intergenerational relationships, discipleship ministries, and having all generations involved in worship and other service ministries (not just music).

Pray for our team this weekend as we sing, share, and inspire.

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Assumptions are often not all they appear to be. It seemed logical to me that if I had lots of music readers, I would be able to conquer more new music than the church down the street that learns everything by rote. However, that’s not entirely the case. Here is some interesting related data I collected on choirs that I think are interesting:

Number of music readers does not affect number of new anthems learned in a year.

The largest choirs in my study learned the most anthems; the smallest learned the fewest. While one could assume this was due to the music readers more commonly found in larger choirs, I think this data is more likely a financial decision. Larger choirs more often have more money to spend on new anthems and smaller choirs in smaller churches.

Choirs that used printed scores only learned far fewer new anthems than those who just use projected media in worship services. This seems almost hard to believe since it seems that having the printed score means the song could be learned quickly. However, these churches using printed scores only in worship are usually smaller—thus, the financial piece in number 3.

There is no correlation between age of leader or dominant generational cohort that affects the number of anthems learned in a year. So the reasoning is not philosophical, but pragmatic.

With this information in mind, here are some other factors that can influence the number learned:

The church has a limited music budget. This factor overwhelmingly drives how much music in learned in a year. Unfortunately, the reality is many churches are limited on budgets and new music is reserved for Easter or Christmas, with maybe a new collection here and there.

Rehearsal time. A 1.5-2 hour rehearsal definitely gives any choir more opportunities to learn music over an hour rehearsal.

Fail to have music readers in every vocal section. There are plenty of choirs who have one (or two) sections that cause the rehearsal to lag because so much time is devoted to bringing a non-reading section along.

Leader does not desire to learn lots of music. I’ve spoken with several colleagues that are against picking up a song in a week or so of rehearsal and then singing it. They believe that much time is needed for the choir to internalize the text and the artistry of the song.

The choir uses full orchestra and one part (choir or orchestra) may have a much harder part than the other. I’ve personally had this issue. Some songs are very difficult for either the choir or the orchestra and so more time is required for one or the other parts.

The choir takes breaks in the year. While most choirs take some time off in the summer or after Christmas, there are some choirs that only sing 2-3 times a month, thus limiting how many new songs may be learned in a year.

I’m sure the list could go on and on. My best guess is the financial piece and the rehearsal time drives most of the decisions on how many anthems are learned in a year. What else would you add to this list?

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Psalm 150(ESV) Let Everything Praise the LordPraise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary;praise him in his mighty heavens! 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;praise him according to his excellent greatness! 3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp !4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! 5 Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

It’s probably no surprise to you that churches use a variety of accompaniments when singing choral music. I remember, in the not too distant past, when most churches either used tracks or piano and/or organ every Sunday to accompany the choir. Yes, there were always the large churches in metropolitan areas that used orchestras every week due to their proximity of available and capable players, but certainly not common. Other churches of some size and proximity to metro areas would often hire orchestras for their seasonal works. The variety has continued, and even expanded, according to a recent data I collected from full-time ministers of music in Georgia. Here’s are the reported methods of accompaniment used on CHORAL pieces for every Sunday use:

You’ll notice that over 60 percent of those I interviewed used some form of combination each week (note that the numbers and percentages don’t necessarily match because some leaders could fit into more than one of the sub-categories). I broke down further underneath that heading those combinations using an accompaniment choice at or more than 50 percent of the time. Moving down the chart, you’ll see that less than 20 percent use orchestra every week. Less than 10 percent use some sort of “keyboard only” scenario, band, or tracks only. It is truly a cornucopia of possibilities and I didn’t even include any combinations that might have included less than 50 percent. The list is LONG!

What I discovered in this process through data comparison with church size was that the size of the church (and choir) directly related to the accompaniments used. Surprised? I wasn’t. Here are some interesting facts:

Half of the largest church choirs (average attendance of 76+ each week) use orchestra at least 80 percent of the Sundays.

None of the choirs with 25 or fewer in average attendance used orchestra at all.

53 percent of the church choirs with 25 or fewer used accompaniment tracks at least 50 percent of the time

40 percent of choirs averaging 26-50 in attendance used tracks.

11.3 percent of choirs averaging 76+ in average attendance used tracks

Overall combinations for varying instruments/tracks were more likely in smaller church choirs

This data supports the idea that more “live” accompaniments were found as the church body was larger (with its greater possibilities of having resources and talent to play). Conversely, more pre-recorded music and combinations of accompaniments were found in smaller churches (choirs averaging fewer than 50). No significant data supported the idea that education of the leader, age of leader or choir members, or even music sung (literature or type) had any bearing on what types of accompaniment were used. Basically, those who CAN play live, do. Those who CAN’T every week (for a myriad of reasons), don’t. I doubt there are many music ministers who wouldn’t want a full orchestra every week if they could!

If your goal is, like mine, to utilize as many people that have talents and calling of the Lord in worship and music ministry, then hopefully you will consider doing all you can to find ways to use live music for choir literature no matter the size of your church or choir. Even if it’s in a combination with another accompaniment type, having the freedom and flexibility to do things live makes a huge difference. There is something odd to me about having band driven congregational song and then blasting a pre-recorded choir track that screams artificial to me, but a LARGE number of churches do just that. Please hear me, I’m NOT condemning or shaming those you who use tracks…I certainly have had to over the course of my ministry, but I always felt the goal was to push towards more live accompaniments for the choir songs just as I was using a band/instruments for congregational singing.

So, if you’ve got a rhythm section that can handle congregational song, then use them for the choir anthem whenever possible. If you have some horn players, add them to that mix. Yes, it means more rehearsal time, but I think it will strengthen the overall impact of the choir ministry in the life of the church.

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Nehemiah 9:6- You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

God has created everything! He has created everything unique and diverse. He is Giver of Life. He is worthy of our praise! God has made creation unique—including you and me. Because we are differently made, we have different opinions and experiences. This means that we must learn to be humble in our understanding that our neighbor might have a different opinion or experience than we do. We bring these biases into all parts of our lives. I’ve found that most who lead choirs are brand loyal to some degree or another. I bet you know folks who are adamant that certain car makes are superior to others. Others are sure that certain cell phones and other technology are far greater than the other “competition.” We leaders of choirs are no different when it comes to being loyal to the publishers of choral music we buy for our choirs. Often, it’s even a composer or arranger that we like, so we stick with what “works.” There is nothing wrong with this approach in itself. My concern is that we limit ourselves by not branching out and seeing what’s available from other publishers because we think we are taking an unnecessary risk.

When I studied the choral literature of leaders of intergenerational choirs, I noticed a couple of general trends as I asked the leaders which publishers they buy their music from. These observations highlight some interesting points to ponder:

Church music publishers may be “loosely” identified in two camps: traditional/liturgical and evangelical

Most leaders I spoke with purchase music from publishers in only one camp

There are far more publishers out there that are traditional/liturgical

While the evangelical publishers are fewer in number, they sell the lion’s share of music for the choir in the intergenerational church.

Roughly 2/3 of the leaders (n=62) I studied buy almost all their music from the evangelical publishers. See chart below from my study:

If you are like me, you’re probably wondering why these publishing houses are so popular. There really can only be a few reasons why:

Trustworthy. Most of us know what to expect from these publishers and the arrangers they employ. We subscribe to their choral plans and eagerly await the quarterly boxes (that fill up my office!), workshops, reading sessions as conferences, to see what’s newly published.

Marketing. I don’t want to get into specifics here, but these publishers above spend an awful lot on marketing. They package things so they look “cool” and offer great discounts for choral plan members. These things make a difference for churches with limited budgets!

Compatible Music Types offered. Similar to point one, we buy from publishers that will supply us with choir music that fits our choir/church, our preferred music type, and ability level.

I think the third point is really the most important. Are we really getting variety if we only buy from a few publishers? This is the question that drives me to ask—well, so what are the other publishers producing? I think it bears taking a deeper look into what music types these publishers are actually publishing. If contemporary and Southern gospel are the two most common music types found in choirs in intergenerational churches ( see Variety of Music is a great thing in the Intergenerational Choir), does this jibe with what the publishers are producing?

Publishers and Music Types

In my quest to figure out what were the dominant types of music published by these publishers, I decided I needed to speak to someone who was not affiliated directly with these publishers—I went to our local music distributor, PineLake Music. I spoke with both sister owners, Cynthia Revo and Beth Carter, as well as the late John Koger for a more objective opinion. Each provided me with great insight as to the dominant music types each of many of our church music publishers. Here’s the data:

What I did first is create a numbered list of each of the music types most likely found in church choral music. It is certainly not exhaustive…

Black gospel (1* will indicated what a called a whitened version of gospel music – 1 will indicated what I referred to as authentic gospel music including Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir arrangements at Word Music) Also, in my experience, only a small percentage of authentic gospel is ever written down for the purpose of publishing. You’re more likely to find this in non-evangelical publishers

Southern gospel

Contemporary

Hymn arrangements

Traditional Church Choral Anthems (I’ve typically described this term to my respondents as arrangers and writers such as Pepper Choplin, Joseph Martin, Mary McDonald, Heather Sorenson (some), Ruthie Schram)

Spirituals

Classical (Like Beethoven, Haydn, Bach-Masterworks)

Modern Worship Anthems (A VERY newly composed Hillsong tune and the like)

After creating this numbered list, I made a list of many of the most frequently named evangelical and traditional publishing houses and I asked for input from the team at PineLake to identify the most common music types they published (see the first numbers in black). Then, I asked them to identify the top 3 DOMINANT music types they publish in rank order (most dominant first, then second, and third) in red

Prism, Word, Lillenas, Brentwood-Benson, Lifeway, Integrity & PraiseGathering (the EVANGELICAL publishers) are almost identical in their style and these priorities have varied over the course of the years. I believe PraiseGathering is probably the most unique because they tend to be more inclusive of traditional church music styles (i.e. Piano Plus Hymn Arrangements) than their evangelical brothers. Integrity probably represents the highest representation of black gospel music for their artist/writers like Israel Houghton, Ron Kenoly and Alvin Slaughter of the evangelical publishers. Word had the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir for years, but as of the last 5 years or so they have begun their own publishing/distribution arm.

While it’s true that Hal Leonard, Alfred and Hinshaw have masterworks kinds of materials, I have limited my comparisons to the church division side of these companies. Shawnee Press, Hope, Beckenhorst and Lorenz (the TRADITIONAL/MAINLINE church publishers) are similar to their evangelical cousins in that their styles of music are similar.

Side note: Another trend that has developed over the last few years is that arrangers who were once closely tied to a particular publisher are now free to roam the publishing world and you will see their names with many different brands. More later…

Let me tie this post up by bringing it back to how this relates to the intergenerational choir setting, since this is the purpose of my blog. I want to make a few points from the hierarchical rankings and then suggest some trends:

All the top five listed in the above graphic, have contemporary and Southern gospel as one of the dominant music types

Of the top 5, only Prism offers quasi-black gospel literature

Hymn arrangements are found in many of the publishers, but only PG produces a large number of arrangements for publication.

The dominant music types found in these publishers suggests that choirs (all, not just IG) are singing what the publishers are producing. The question remains out there: who’s driving the ship? Are the publishers driving or is the consumer? I’ve met many arrangers; I am friends with some of them too. They want to write things that the church will use and the leaders will buy. If the church leaders were dissatisfied, the writers and arrangers would simply write something else. But, I believe that most leaders are not dissatisfied with the publishers and arrangers they have deemed a fit for their choir and congregation. AND that’s my issue. We leaders are enslaved to what we think is out their for us to choose from. So, we choose to stick with what works (see TRUSTWORTHY), and thus have no pressing reason to explore other publishing houses.

I think we leaders of choirs need to look beyond the top 5 for more variance. Look at Hal Leonard, Shawnee, Alfred, and Hinshaw if you typically stick to the top 5 above. The converse is also true. Go to reading sessions that offer a variety of publishers (such as at GO Georgia). Don’t simply listen to the same choral club CDs you’ve always subscribed to as they come in…listen online to these other publishers. Don’t simply drive to the nearest Prism Workshop as your sole source of literature—branch out so there is variety of music type, and variety of writers and arrangements—you’ll be glad you did!

Additional notes:

Did you know PineLake has two choral clubs that are from their bestsellers for that quarter that feature many different publishers. I’ve enjoyed subscribing to their contemporary/blended club for the last few years. Prism is a excluded. Check it out!

Many music distributors, such as Kempke’s, JW Pepper, and PineLake, have bestseller lists that can be very helpful for seeing what other colleagues are buying.